We'll Survive this
by XoXoDaydreamerXoXo
Summary: When Katherine finds Rick in the hospital, she takes pity on him and helps him find his family, She creates a close relationship with him, A certain redneck and the rest of the group. Rick/OC Friendship and Maybe eventual Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction and English isn't my first language, so sorry if I have some spelling mistakes, and any constructive criticism is welcome :)**

Survive.

That's what it was all about now, Day after day living with one purpose. Surviving.

The apocalypse destroyed everything. one morning I was a college student one the verge of graduating, with a nice family, great friends and a promising future, and the next I was running away from the undead.

The morning of the outbreak was the toughest.

I was supposed to visit my family that day, It was my little sister's 9th birthday, and I had promised to spend the day with her.

Are they okay? Did they survive? Did _she_ survive?

I felt a sudden pain in my chest at the thought of never seeing my little sister again, the hopes of finding her was what got me through the day.

I was currently staying with a fellow survivor and his son, whom I had met a little while back.

Morgan and Duane were good people, and I enjoyed being around them.

"We're running a bit low on supplies" Morgan said, interrupting my thoughts.

He crouched and sat on the floor of the floor next to me, in the living room of a house we were able to barricade. "We should scavenge around, see what food we can find." he continued, waiting for my response.

"Medical supplies as well, We used most of it up when Duane caught the flu last week." I told him, looking over to Duane, who'se full atention was on reading a new comic book I was able to snatch for him a couple of days ago.

"The pharmacy is empty, we checked it a couple of days ago remember?" Morgan said, running his hand through his face.

"There's a hospital nearby, It was overrun quite early on, Chances are there are a lot of medical supplies still lying around there." I said

"Chances are there are a lot of walkers there as well, It's too risky" Morgan protested.

"The military had gone to the hospital to try to contain the infection and evacuate the patients during the outbreak, they must have gotten rid of a bunch of walkers, if not most of them." I stated.

"Still..." He hesitated, glancing worringly over to Duane briefly before looking at me again.

I knew the reason he didn't want to go to the hospital was because he didn't want to risk Duane getting hurt, it was unknown territory after all.

"I'll go alone. You and Duane can scavange the surrounding houses around here for food and supplies." I said.

He looked like he was about to protest, so I continued "I'm quick, I can sneak in and out of the hospital faster if I'm alone, and besides, I'm a good fighter."

It was true.

Before the apocalypse my family had always been somewhat active, my mother would always take me hiking and camping, while my father had always tried to teach me how to play sports, and how to defend myself.

I'm pretty certain he wanted a son, but considering he only had two girls, he had always tried his best to spark our interests in more 'boyish' hobbies.

He had tried to teach my little sister as well, but she was never the sporty or violent type.

I wasn't either, but considering my sister never wanted to learn, I couldn't find it in my heart to say no and sadden him.

Even though I was never the best at sports and certainly no expert fighter, the years of practicing had made me somewhat sneaky and quick on my feet, and I was pretty good with a knife and gun, and improving because of the whole 'having to kill walkers because they want to take a bite out of me' thing.

"Alright. But don't risk it if there are too many of them, you come right back here understood?"

he said standing up.

"Of course."

* * *

The hospital had been pretty empty, besides the ocasional walker which i was easily able to kill with my knife.

I had finished filling up my bag with all sorts of bandages and medicine and now was working on finding my way out when I saw a walker in a hospital gown, limping in the hall.

_...Wait._

I quickly hid.

He wasn't a walker, this man was alive.

He didn't seem to notice me, his focuse was strained on what looked to be the cafeteria doors that were heavily chained and padlocked, with 'Don't open, Dead Inside' spray painted on the door.

He approached the door slowly, Pushing it slightly.

"What are you doing?" I couldn't resist, I stepped out of hiding "If the door says 'Don't open', then it's probably not a good ideia to."

The man jumped and turned around, startled.

"W-Who are you? What's going on here?" He said, with panicked eyes.

"What do you mean?" I slowly started walking towards him, cautiously.

"I woke up here a little while ago, with dead people on the floor and bullet holes on the wall" He ran his finger through his hair "Was it a war? I mean, were we attacked?"

Was he serious? He couldn't be telling the truth, could he?

On the other hand, he did look completly scared and confused.

Did he really have no ideia what was going on ?

"Not quite." I said, not knowing how to explain it any further.

The doors of the cafeteria heaved slowly, pushed from the other side.

Fingers probed through the crack before our eyes: Pale, Wriggling, undead fingers.

More fingers started to appear, all up and down the crack of the door And then the greadful grunting of the undead.

The man backed away from the door, terrified.

"Come on, we should go." I said, spotting a door marked exit on it, Even though the padlock looked pretty strong, I didn't want to risk staying there for long, god knows how many walkers there could be in there.

"What-" The man started

"We have to go, _now_." I said making my way towards the exit.

The man took one last look at the cafeteria doors. Those awful, weird fingers still there, wriggling in the crack and followed me into the door, closing it behind him.

Total darkness now. Shit.

I should have brought a flashlight. Crap, how could i have not brought a flashlight?

I hear the man behind me fumble and suddenly a small glow appeared behind me.

Matches.

The guy had a book of matches on him.

The glow was faint, but at least it was something.

I moved foward, making sure to stay close to the only source of light we had at the moment.

The staircase was black, cavernous.

It smelt bad in there as well, the smell of rotting flesh was definitely more terrifying when you were in the dark, not being able to tell if the smell was coming from someone who was already dead or undead.

Match goes out. Pitch black.

In the dark, I could only hear the forced quiet of a man trying his best not to panic. The fumbling of a matchbook...

Another match was struck. Light.

We started going down the stairs, Leaning on the railing for support afraid of tripping in the dark.

Match goes out. Pitch black.

He strikes another one. More steps are being carefully taken, The stench getting stronger.

We could vaguely see a sign that said 'exit' on the door on the landing below.

If we can get to those doors...

Pitch black again.

All I could hear was the man breathing behind me, and it offered some comfort knowing that I wasn't alone.

He lit up his last match as we stepped quicker towards the door, throwing it open and being temporarily blinded by the sudden sunlight.

Oh god.

In front of us was a pit of dead. God knows how many there are.

So many dead bodies, covered in white sheets.

I looked behind me and saw the look of terror on the mans face, he looked at me, almost with tears in his eyes, trying to form words out of his mouth, but unable to.

I put my hand on his forearm, encouraging him to walk ahead with me.

It seemed like the more we walked, the more dead bodies we would find.

The bodies were hastily wrapped in white sheets and stacked like firewood along the hospital wall.

Hundreds of them.

Blots of dried blood on the sheets, all shot in the head before being dumped here like garbage awaiting pickup.

We headed onto the street, which was also deserted, But at least there were no corpses here.

"I'm Katherine by the way." I said, noticing we hadn't yet introduced ourselves.

"Rick Grimes." He said, shaking my hand.

I finally stopped to take a good look at his appearance, he was fairly tall with a slim figure, he appeared to be around his mid to late 30's. Brown wavy hair, Blue eyes and a facial stubble.

He was handsome but looked exausted, and I wouldn't blame him.

I started looking around to see if there were any cars we could use, but with no luck.

"Two bycicles over there" he spotted, In what seemed to be a park.

I nodded, and we headed in the direction of the bikes.

I didn't even notice the dead woman with only half of her body, lying on the park grounds until she started waving her hands desperatly at us, trying to get a hold of food.

Rick cried out in shock, dropping the bike on the grass.

"It's Ok, Come on." I said, helping him up

"How is that okay?" He said with wide eyes.

"You get used to it eventually." I said getting on the bike.

He still looked shaken, but hopped on the bike anyways and looked over to me "I need to check my house and see if my family is alright, Will you come?"

Should I go? I mean, I couldn't necessarily leave him alone, could I?

No. He wouldn't survive alone, no one ever does.

And besides, what kind of person would i be if i let a hurt, confused and scared man alone with flesh-eating predators all around us?

"Of course."


	2. Chapter 2

We arrived at a house not so far from where Morgan, Duane and I were staying at, but by the looks of it, no one was staying in this one.

Well, no one alive anyways.

The windows were broken, Screen door torn off and the front door open.

My hand automatically rested on my Knife and P-220 Pistol that I carried with me.

Rick shakily hopped off the bike, almost falling to the side.

I quickly reached out and steadied him, earning a grateful nod from him.

He desperatly needs food and rest, but I know he wouldn't leave without checking the house first.

I stepped in front of him, taking out my gun "Stay behind me alright? We don't know what's in there. And stay silent."

He nodded, and so we stepped in the house together, cautiously.

"Lori?" I hear Rick call out behind me.

The house looked even worse on the inside, Dishes broken and scattered all around the kitchen, Shelves overturned in the den.

"Lori! Carl!" He called out again, even louder.

"Rick, remember what I said about _silence_?" I knew I was being a bit harsh, but making too much noise nowadays was very risky.

"Lori. Carl." I heard him cry out again, but when I turned around, He was on the floor, sobbing.

I kneeled down next to him as he continued to cry out his family's name again.

I knew exactly how he felt.

After the outbreak, I had continued to head home to try to find my family, But once I got there I found nothing. No people, no walkers, not even a damn note telling me where they were headed.

I had tried to call my parents cellphone probably a thousand times, but they never picked up.

It broke my heart not finding anyone there, not knowing what happened, If they were ok.

"It's going to be ok. We'll find them, I promise." I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him as much as I could.

* * *

I had told Rick to stay in the living room while I checked out the rest of the house, and to call me if he saw anything.

I was finishing checking one of the last rooms when I heard someone shout from a distance.

_Crap._

I sprinted outside to where the voice was located, only to see Rick on the floor moaning in pain and Duane with a shovel in his hands.

"Duane!" I yelled before he could strike Rick with the shovel again.

Duane looked at me, suprised. " I got this sumbitch! I'm gonna smack him dead!"

"Carl. Carl. _I found you._" Rick moaned, obviously delirious.

Morgan suddenly appeared, Stepped up beside another walker with a small handgun. POP. Head shot.

He stepped in front of Rick, aiming the gun to his head.

"He's not dead." I stated, stepping closer to Rick.

"Mister? What's the bandage for?" Morgan said, Ignoring me.

"w-what?" Rick responded, completely winded.

"Morgan, the man just got hit with a shovel, could you take it easy on him?" I pleaded.

Morgan looked up to me before pressing the gun to Rick's head again. "Answer me, Damn you! What's your wound? Tell me or I'll kill you!"

I could see Rick was trying to answer, but blacked out before he could.

"That wasn't what I meant by taking it easy." I shook my head. "We should take him back with us, get him cleaned up."

"What if he's infected?" Morgan asked me, hesitantly putting his gun away.

"I found him in the hospital, I don't think he's infected. To be honest, I don't even think he knows what's going on." I said, urging Morgan to help me carry Rick.

"I hope your right about this" He said, helping me.

* * *

"Come on Rick, Wake up." I said, wiping his forehead with a wet cloth.

It had been a couple of days since Rick had passed out, and he hadn't woken up yet.

We put him in one of the bedrooms of the house we were staying at, Changed his bandages, gave him medicine, food and water.

I could see Rick finally starting to wake up, and looking around the room.

Morgan was at the Bureau, stripping off playtex gloves so he could wash his hands in a bowl of water. Duane was at the end of the bed, peering at Rick over the footboard.

Rick's eyes moved to his restrained wrists and then to me, confused.

I frowned. "I'm sorry, Morgan insisted on restraining you in case you were infected, but it's been days now, surely we can untie you now?" I said, looking at Morgan.

Morgan frowned as well, not liking the ideia. "We changed the bandage on you, was pretty rank."

Silence.

"Looks like you had some doctor work on you. That right?" Morgan continued.

"Must have." Rick stated.

"What was it? Your wound?" Morgan asked, continuing to scrub his hands.

"Gunshot"

"Gunshot?" Morgan repeated "What else? Anything?"

"Gunshot ain't enough?" Rick responded.

Morgan approached him, tense. Pissed. "Look. I ask. You answer. Common courtesy." he leaned closer "Did. You. Get. Bit."

"Bit?" Rick asked.

"Bit."Morgan repeated "Chewed, maybe even scratched. Anything like that?"

"No. I got ... well, Shot. Just shot, far as I know" Rick responded.

Morgan relaxed a little, but I knew he still wasn't convinced.

"If he was infected he would have turned by now" I stated.

Morgan stared at me, and finally reached his hand toward Rick's face but Rick flinched away.

"Let me." Morgan said, putting his hand on Rick's forehead, feeling his temperature. "Katherine's right, fever would have killed you by now."

"Don't think I have one." Rick stated.

"No. Be hard to miss." Morgan pulled out his knife, giving Rick a hard look. "This knife, take a moment. Good long look. How sharp it is. You try anything, I'll kill you with it. Don't think I won't."

Rick nodded.

Morgan sliced through the restraints, freeing Rick's wrists and leaving the room.

Rick brought up his hands shakily to his chest, and looked up to me.

"Morgan's a good man, don't worry." I reassured him. "Come down for dinner when you're ready." I said, standing up and leaving the room as well.

* * *

I was helping Morgan and Duane fix up some dinner, when Rick finally appeared downstairs..

"This place, Fred and Cindy drake's?" he asked, looking around.

"Don't know, never met them." Morgan responded, stirring up a pot of beans over a stove warmer.

"I've been here. This is their place." Rick insisted.

"It was empty when we got here." Morgan said.

Rick continued to look around, moving towards the boarded up window, covered in blankets.

He starts to move the blankets aside, to get a look from the small viewing slit.

"Don't. They'll see the light." I warned him.

He turns around, only to see Morgan and Duane observing him as well.

"She's right." Morgan agreed "There's more of them out there than usual. I shouldn't have fired that shot today. Sound draws them, and now they're all over the streets." Morgan and Duane took their seats. "Stupid using the gun. Happened too fast, I didn't think."

"You didn't think." Rick repeated.

"No. I should have used my baseball bat instead. My mistake." Morgan said, serving each one of us with a small plate of food.

"You shot that man today." Rick stated, accusingly.

"Weren't no man." Duane said

"What the hell was that out of your mouth just now?" Morgan asked, scolding his son.

"It _wasn't _a man." Duane corrected himself, fiddling with his spoon.

"I saw you. You shot him. In the street out front,a _man._" Rick said.

"You need glasses friend, that was a walker." Morgan said, nodding at the chair "C'mon, Sit down before you fall down."

Rick sat, immediatly grabbing his spoon.

"Daddy, Blessing." Duane said, taking his fathers hand.

I take Morgan's hand and offer the other to Rick.

He accepts mine and Duane's hand before dipping his head.

"Father, we thank thee for this food, thy blessings, and ask you to watch over us in these crazy days, amen." Morgan finishes the prayer, and everyone digs in.

"Katherine, Did you even explain to the man what's going on?" Morgan asked me

Everyone's eyes turn to me.

I ducked my head "No, I Didn't know how to." I admitted.

I knew I should have explained everything to him, but how the hell was I supposed to tell a person that the world was now infested by flesh eating monsters? That everyone he knew was probably dead?

"So you don't know about the dead people?" Morgan asked, turning his attention to Rick once again.

"Saw a lot of that." Rick responded. "Stacked like firewood, out on the loading dock, Piled in trucks."

"Not the ones they put down, the others. The walkers." I said.

Rick just stares.

"Like the one I shot. He'd have ripped into you. Taken some flesh at least. That's what they do." Morgan said, picking at his food.

Rick continues in silence.

"If this is the first you're hearing it, I know how it must sound." Morgan continued.

"Insane." Rick responded. "But... today, that woman at the park.." He looked up at me.

I nodded.

"They're out there right now? In the streets?" He asked.

"They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cool air, or hell, maybe it's just me firing that gun today. We should be fine though, as long as we keep quiet." Morgan says.

"They were saying on the news that it was some kind of virus, at least, that's what they guessed. But the broadcast's stopped and that's the last we heard. That was a few weeks ago." I said.

"One thing I do know, Don't get bit. I saw your bandage, and that's what I was afraid of." Morgan stated.

Rick just stared, looking confused.

"The bite, It kills you. The fever burns you out, but you come back after a while. Hungry." I explained.

"We've seen it happen." Duane said in a quiet voice.

The whole table became silent.

* * *

We were all in the living room, I was on the sofa, Morgan and Duane on a matress on the floor and Rick on a sleeping bag .

We were all silent, Just listening to the faint groans and snarls outside.

"Carl. Is that your son?" Morgan broke the silence. "You said his name today."

"He's about your boy's age." Rick answered, looking at Duane's sleeping figure and giving a small smile.

"He with his mother?" Morgan asked

And with that, the smile was gone "I hope so."

Duane stirred, half asleep "Did you guys ask him?" He said, looking at his father and then to me.

Morgan and I smirked.

"The gunshot, We got a bet going. My boy say's your a bank robber."

"Yeah, that's me. Deadly as Dillinger. Ka-pow." Rick smilled and shook his head. "Police officer."

We all smiled.

"That's-" I was interrupted by a blaring car alarm outside. Duane jerked up, fully awake now.

"It's nothing son, it's ok. I'm here" Morgan said, comforting his son.

"One of them must have bumped a car." I said, getting up.

"You sure?" Rick asked me.

"Yeah, It's happened before." I said, walking over to the window just to make sure. "The lights."

Morgan, Duane and Rick went to turn off the lights, and then came over to where I was.

I carefully undid the safety pins of the viewing slit, just enough to see outside.

Walkers outside, a bunch of them just aimlessly wandering around.

"I was right, The honda down the street, the same one as last time." I said, moving over to let the others take a look.

Duane and Rick walk over to the viewing slit "The sound, won't it bring more of them?" Rick asked, looking at Morgan and I.

"Nothing we can do about it now." Morgan answered.

"_She's here._" Morgan gasped horrified.

"Get away from the windows Duane." I ordered. "Go."

Duane tore himself from the windows in tears, running back to his matress and throwing himself down. Morgan quickly followed him "Shh. Quiet now." He pleaded, trying his best to comfort his crying son.

Rick and I take another look outside, seeing Duane's mother out there.

Walker.

Her lifeless, decaying corpse made her way towards the house, like she knew we were in there.

I stepped back, not wanting to look any further.

Rick on the other hand, moved over to the door and looked out the peephole.

Soft scratching.

She wanted in.

I looked over to Duane who was still sobbing into a pillow, and Morgan comforting him.

Scratching stops.

The doorknob slowly turning back and forth, but the boards were firmly nailed in place, not letting her in.

I walked over to Rick, grabbing his forearm and silently urged him away from the door.

We both sat down at our earlier spots, still looking at the doorknob in silence.

"She died in the other room, On that bed in there. Nothing I could do. That fever man, Her skin gave off heat like a furnace." Morgan said, with tears shimmering in his eyes. "I should have put her down. I know that. But I didn't have it in me, She's the mother of my child."

No comfort words were said, how could you comfort someone in a situation like this?

You can't. You can't say everything's going to be ok, or that It'll get better.

The only thing we could do was stay there in silence, watching Morgan hug his crying son.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I know this story is a bit slow, but I like the fact that it slowly builds up the relationship between all the characters. If you guys have any ideias or complaints, feel free to tell me. and oh, I pictured Alexandra daddario in the chainsaw massacre movie as Katherine, If you don't know who she is, Just google her :)**

* * *

"You sure you want to do this?" I asked Rick, handing him a baseball bat.

"Yeah." He said, slightly hesistating before taking the bat.

It was morning now, and Rick insisted on going back to his house, said he wanted to check it one last time and look for some things.

I gripped my machete even harder, and rested my other hand on my knife and pistol, reassuring myself it was there.

Morgan opened the door, with a crowbar in his hand and cautiously stepped outside.

The street was mostly deserted now, expept for an actual dead body on the street and a walker slumped on the curb, not noticing us.

"We're sure they're dead?" Rick asked me for the tenth time that day.

I stared at him, unamused.

"I know, but I have to ask. Just one more time ok?" He said, off my look.

"Yes Rick, They're dead." I assured him.

He nodded, moving off the porch and across the lawn.

I stay close to him as backup.

The walker roused, looking at us coming towards him. But before he could heave himself up, Rick striked a few brutal blows to the walkers head with the bat.

The walker collapsed, twitching at his feet and then going still.

Rick was breathing hard, looking at the walker.

"Let's go." I said, patting his shoulder.

* * *

"They're alive, My wife and son" Rick said "At least they were when they left."

We had arrived at Rick's house, Morgan and Duane sitting at the dinner table, While I was propped up on the counter.

Morgan looked around, doubtful. "How can you tell? By the looks of this place..."

"I found empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes, not a lot, but enough to travel." Rick interrupted.

"Rick, Anyone could have broken in here and stolen clothes" I said, sounding like a pessimist.

Rick shook his head, gazing at the wall "See the framed photos on the wall?"

I continued silent, Seeing nothing but blank spots on the wall.

"Neither do I, Some random thief take those too?" He continued, rummaging through a cabinet "Our photo albums, Family pictures. All gone."

"Photo albums" Morgan repeated, shaking his head and laughing.

"My wife. Same goddamn thing. There I am packing survival gear and she's grabbing photo albums." His laugh breaks, and turns into silent cries.

"They're in Atlanta I bet." Duane says, looking at Rick.

Morgan nods "That's right. If they got out ok, they're in Atlanta."

"Why there?" Rick asked

"Refugee center, at least that's what we heard. Military protection, food, shelter. They told everyone to go there." I answered.

"Plus they got that disease place" Duane added.

"Center for disease control. Said they were working on how to solve this thing." Morgan explained.

Rick listened intently, with a glimmer of hope stirring in his eyes.

He walked into the Kitchen, opening a cabinet and grabbing a set of keys.

* * *

We had headed back to the house we were staying at to grab our duffel bags, and clean stacks of clothes before heading to the police statio.

Rick unlocked the door and led us in. The place was deserted. Messy, but not trashed.

We made our way through the halls, past offices, and silent cubicles.

"Back there" He jerked his head towards the locker rooms.

We enter.

Rick goes to a shower, turns the handle and waits.

Water and steam come out of the shower head.

"Gas pilot's still on" He said, looking at our hopeful faces.

"You can shower over there" He said showing me a small wall, with showers behind them as well. Hidden from the male view.

I smiled and ran over there not wasting time, undressing and quickly turning on the shower.

_Hot water._

I Smiled and started giving my hair a very overdue wash.

I could hear the boys joyfulling hollering on the other side of the wall.

"This is amazing!" I shouted, earning more excited hollers and laughter from them.

After taking the time to scrub every inch of my body and hair, I reluctantly stepped out of the shower, and put fresh clothes on.

I stepped in front of the mirror, and took in my appearance.

My once long black hair was now chopped in layers, falling a bit under my shoulders.

My eyes, which were once my favorite feature, being a gleaming light blue were now dull, lifeless and with dark bags under it.

"You boys decent?" I asked.

"Yeah, you can come in." I heard Morgan reply before I stepped in.

Morgan and Rick had both shaved and put on fresh clothes, Rick in his old police uniform.

"Atlanta sounds like a good deal don't you think? Safer anyway, people" Rick said.

"That's where we were headed, But things got crazy. You wouldn't believe the panic. Streets weren't fit to be on and when my wife... Couldn't travel, not with her being hurt. Had to find a place to lay low. After she died, We just stayed hunkered down. I guess we just hunkered down, wasn't long after that when we met Katherine." Morgan explained.

"Plan to move on?" Rick asked

"Haven't worked up to it yet." He responded.

"What about you?" Rick asked me

I looked at Rick, then at Morgan, then to Rick again.

I'd have a better chance of finding my family if I went to Atlanta, that's where they would be, wouldn't it?

But, could I leave Morgan and Duane behind?

Morgan seemed to understand what I was thinking "We'll be fine Katherine, You should go. I know you want to look for your family as well." He reassured me.

I nodded, smiling.

After grabbing some guns and ammo out of the gun closet, food snacks and drinks out of the vending machine and the first aid kits they had at the station, we headed outside to where the cars were.

"Conserve your ammo, It goes faster than you think." Rick said, putting our bag of guns and duffel bags in the trunk of the car.

"Sure you won't come along?" I asked Morgan, already knowing the answer.

He shook his head. "Another week maybe. By then at least Duane'll know how to shoot, and I won't be so rusty."

I knew he also needed to put his wife to rest as well before he could move on, but he would never admit that out loud.

Rick steps up beside us and hands Morgan a Walkie Talkie. "You've got one battery. Week from now, Katherine and I will start turning this one on a few minutes everyday at dawn. You get up there, that's how you'll find us."

"You think ahead." Morgan said, smiling.

"Can't afford not to anymore." Rick responded truthfully.

"Look, They might not seem like much one at a time, but in a group? All round up and hungry? Hell, you two watch your asses."

"You watch yours" Rick said, Shaking Morgan's hand.

"You're a good man Rick, I hope you find your wife and son." Morgan smiled "And if anything happens to Katherine, I'll track your ass down."

"Got it." Rick smiled.

I hugged Morgan "Take care of yourself alright? And take care of Duane."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Good luck finding your family" He told me.

Duane came up and hugged me next "We'll see each other soon, right?" He asked.

"Of course, When we meet up in Atlanta, I promise you and I will go scavenging for a bunch of new comic books." I said, making him smile.

"Be seeing you Duane. Take care of your old man." Rick said.

"Yes sir." Duane responded, before shifting his eyes behind us.

We turn around, seeing a walker on the other side of the chainlink fence, watching us.

Rick looked like he was going to be sick, so I took my knife and stepped forward.

"I'll do it." Rick said, stopping me.

"You knew him?" I asked

He nodded "Leon basset. Didn't think much of him. Careless and dumb. But I can't just leave him like this." He said, unholstering his gun.

"What if they hear the shot?" Morgan questioned.

"Let's not be here when they show up." Rick responded.

Morgan nodded.

BAM.

With nothing more said, Rick and I stepped into the police cruiser, waving goodbye at Morgan and Duane, and finally going our separate ways.

After a short while of driving in silence Rick turned to me "We should make a stop at the park."

* * *

"The woman..." I nodded, knowing what he was suggesting.

"She's not here." Rick said confused.

We were at the park, searching for the walker Rick and I had seen near the bycicles.

"Let's look for her." I suggested. "I mean, she had the bottom half of her bottom missing, She has to be around here, It's not like she could have gotten far."

He nodded, following me.

We didn't have to search for long, after a few minutes we could spot her, crawling slowly in the opposite direction. No legs, pulling herself inches at a time with her hands.

She finally noticed our presence after we were close to her. Reaching towards us. Moaning. Chewing the air.

Rick pulled out his pistol "I'm sorry this happened to you." He said quietly.

He fires a perfect shot through her brain and the walker instantly goes still.

* * *

"I didn't know you were looking for your family as well." Rick said, looking over to me.

We had been driving a while now, leaving the town.

"Yeah, I had promised to visit my little sister Holly for her birthday, She was turning nine. Turns out the day I decide to visit them, was also the day things started to get crazy. It was impossible to be on the streets, so I waited the madness to go down before leaving town. I waited too much I guess, because when I got home no one was there." I explained, tears threatening to escape my eyes.

"If no one was there, there's a chance they're alive." He said, comforting me.

"Yeah." I responded

"We'll need gas soon." I said, changing the subject.

He looked at the fuel gauge. It wasn't dangerously low yet, but I was right, we would need to find a gas stop soon.

"We should keep an eye out for a gas station." He told me.

* * *

"There!" I pointed at what looked to be a gas stop ahead.

We stopped the car, deciding if we should risk it.

Ahead of us was a huge sprawl of abandoned cars surrounding the gas station.

It looked like the world's biggest and most disorganized used car lot.

"We should go on foot." I suggested

He looked at me like I was crazy, so I continued "We don't even know if we can get the car past that, and besides, we're quieter on foot.

He sighed and nodded "You're right."

We stepped out of the car, observing.

It was deeply, eerily quiet.

We started walking, Rick with a gas container in his hands.

There were laundry here and there, hung on lines among the cars. Old campfires, Empty cans. A a few tents. _Bodies _in the car, hard to tell how many. Hard to tell if they were really dead as well.

We both stopped and looked at each other "Maybe we should go back." he whipsered.

I looked around once again, before agreeing. "Yeah, This place doesn't feel right."

But before we could turn back, we heard something.

Something like feet shuffling on the ground.

I immediatly hide, while Rick drops to his belly, looking under the cars.

He looks at me, and quickly rises again moving out of my sight.

"_Rick?!" _I half whisper.

_What the hell is he doing?_

"Little girl?" I heard him say

I got out from behind the car I was hiding at and followed him.

"Rick..." I warned, seeing him approach a small figure.

"Little girl. I'm a policeman. I'll help you, don't be afraid. Little girl?" He called out to the figure.

My hand rested on my gun, I really hoped I didn't have to use this here.

The figure turned around.

This was not a little girl anymore.

She had deep sunken eyes, Lips torn away, leaving just a snarl of teeth.

She started moving towards Rick, with a hungry glare.

I started drawing my gun, but Rick beat me to it.

BAM.

The headshot quickly slammed the walker's head back, Falling to the ground.

He finally turned in my direction, not meeting my eyes "I thought she was alive." He said, disappointment obvious in his voice.

"I'm sorry." I responded sincerly.

As I looked around again, I could see the dead faces in the cars starting to gaze up.

_Oh shit._

"We should go." He said, noticing the walkers trapped in the cars now banging on the windows.

"Good ideia." I said, before we ran off to the police cruiser once again.


	4. Chapter 4

Rick had been trying to get in touch with anyone through his police radio, but with no luck.

"Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear my voice?" He tried again.

Silence.

The cruiser suddenly started sputtering and slowing down, jerking to a stop.

"Gas." Rick said, getting out of the car.

I groaned, getting out of the car as well.

Rick handed me my duffel bag, grabbed the bag of guns and started walking.

* * *

"I'm tired." I whined.

Rick just looked at me.

"Sorry, I get whiney after doing to much exercise, It used to annoy the hell out of my parents." I chuckled.

"How old are you anyway?" He asked me

"Twenty two... well, Maybe Twenty three by now, I'm not sure what day it is." I replied.

"You don't know what day it is?" He repeated, amused.

"Well Rick, Packing a calender for the apocalypse wasn't on the top of my to-do list." I teased.

"House up front" He pointed to a farm house a few hundred yards away. "Let's hope there's somebody there." He said.

"Someone alive, preferably." I mumbled to myself.

He glared at me "Heard that."

* * *

"Maybe we should look around quietly first, See if anyone's home." I said, once we were in front of the house.

He ignored me "Hello? Police officer out here! Can I borrow some gas?" He shouted.

I cringed. "Jesus Rick, You really don't know what _quiet _means, don't you?"

He said nothing as he moved to the front door, pounding on it. "Hello?" He shouts again.

I sighed in annoyance, stepping near the window and taking a look inside.

_Oh my._

I Stepped back, Immediatly regretting taking a look.

"What?" Rick said, noticing my expression.

He took a step near the window, looking inside himself.

A family.

All shot in the head, With a rifle next to a dead man with his head blown off.

"God forgive us." was painted on the wall, and covered up with layers of blood.

Rick stepped back, with the same face I was making moments ago.

I looked around, spotting a old pickup truck. "Rick." I called out, Jerking my head towards the truck.

I opened the truck door and start looking around for the key.

"Any luck?" Rick asked me.

"Nothing here." I said, looking at him.

He looks back at the house, with nauseated look on his face.

_Oh hell no. _"You're not thinking of going _inside_ that house, are you?" I asked, ready to protest.

He looks sheepish. "I-" He was interrupted by a whinny noise.

He turns, seeing a horse eating grass and turning to me again.

"Ever ridden a horse before?" He smirked.

* * *

My butt was sore.

"You know, riding a horse looked so much easier on movies." I said, clinging onto Rick like my life depended on it.

He just chuckled. "Won't have to be on the horse for much longer, Atlanta's Just up ahead. "

"You say that every ten minutes."

"You complain every ten minutes." He smirked.

Another twenty minutes had passed.

"Holy god." I heard Rick mumble.

I looked over to see what Rick was talking about.

_Holy god indeed._

Skyscrapers looked silent tombstones, several just looking like charred husks, Like they caught on fire at some point and simply burned out.

The lane we were on, going into the city was empty. The one heading out, well, that one was choked with hundreds, maybe even thousands of abandoned cars and Suv's.

"Rick, We should head back." I said, disappointment obvious in my voice.

"No, we have to check." He said, urging the horse forward.

We passed broken down barracades, buildings with smashed windows, cars overturned. Trash and debris everywhere.

There were now a couple of walkers following us, spooking the horse.

"It's all right girl, steady. There's just a few, nothing we can't handle." He said, patting the horse's neck.

"Rick, It's not too late for us to head out. Let's just go." I said, getting more scared by the minute.

"We just need to push on a little bit more." He argued.

A distant rumble was heard.

We looked up, seeing a fast, fleeting glimpse of a helicopter between the buildings.

_A helicopter. Maybe there is a refugee center after all._

"Hyah!" Rick spurred the horse into a gallop, racing in the direction of the helicopter.

_Oh shit.  
_

The street was filled with walkers. Not just some stragglers, but dozens of them.

A massive horde, and we were on their lunch menu.

The mass of walkers surged toward us, with dead, greedy eyes.

Rick turned the horse around, galloping back around the corner but walkers were surging that direction too.

The horse panicked, throwing us both off it's back.

_Ow._

We both hit the pavement hard, Wind knocked out of us.

I looked up to see the horse rearing and falling, screaming and kicking while dissapearing into a mass of snarling walkers.

Rick looks at me, panic in his eyes.

More than a few walkers had noticed our presence on the floor, and came in our direction.

_Shit shit shit. this is not how I wanted to die._

We both scrambled back in terror, towards the back of the tank.

"Go under it!" He shouted.

So I did, Rick closely by my side.

Walkers were grabbing our ankles, crawling towards us.

We keep crawling to the front of the tank, but there were walkers there too.

Rick looked at me and I could see it in his eyes: _We're dead._

Rick pulled his gun, There was no way he was going to let himself get torn apart.

"Lori. Carl. I'm s-"

"Rick!" I shouted, grabbing his attention and pointing to an open hatch under the tank.

We both quickly scrambled into it, walkers snarling and crawling as we slam the hatch closed.

Breathing heavily, looking at each other.

Rick suddenly looked over to the dead soldier beside him, the soldier awakens and slowly starts to move over to him.

Rick quickly moves to grab his gun.

"Rick, No! The noise-" BAM. I was interrupted by the ear piercing echo the gun had made.

Hearing's gone, Replaced only with a high piercing ringing tone in my ear.

We both look up, disoriented.

The hatch on top was open, if the walkers got in here...

I look over to Rick, who was already getting up and closing the hatch.

Groggy and dazed, Rick leaned over, reaching for the dead soldiers gun.

"How about from now on, You start listening to what I say?" I suggested, annoyed and in pain.

He looks over to me, not saying anything.

"When I tell you to be quiet, be _quiet. _When I suggest heading out of the walker infested city, You should probably do it. And when I tell you not to shoot a gun in an enclosed steel tank, maybe you should listen!" I said, running my hands through my face.

"Sorry."

We stayed silent for a few moments. "I dropped the bag of guns." He admitted.

_Shit._

"I dropped my duffel bag as well, It had our food, water and meds in it. You think we can get it back?" I asked.

"I'm not even sure how were going to get out of this tank."

_We're so dead._

Static coming from the radio.

"Hey. Dumbasses. You two in the tank. Cozy in there?"


	5. Update

**UPDATE: **I'm sorry I haven't been posting any new chapters, but I haven't given up on the story, I promise.

My computer broke down, and so until my new one arrives, I can't post any new chapters.

Kind of sucks that I have to download every episode of TWD again, and rewrite every chapter I had already finished.

Be patient please, I promise I'll post a new chapter as soon as I can :)


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